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Rear Ride Height

13K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  chop 
#1 ·
I would like to raise the rear ride hight on my 300 to quicken the steering a bit. I know I could drop the front a bit to get the same effect but I really don't want to do that and reduce any ground clearance. On my 250 i put the larger 140 rear tire on which cause the raised rear ride height and gave me the steering geometry I prefer. Does anyone have any suggestions short of buying a ride height adjustable rear shock?
 
#4 ·
Some aftermarket adjustable rearsets will help you out with that. Some riders have done this already, with either sv racing or vortex rearsets (those are the only 2 that come to mind right now).
 
#6 ·
hey guys so im gonna ask a question regarding the Rear Ride Height because im a noob and i wanna do this as well when i get my bike.

The Rear Set - Do i just google Rear Set for motorcycles and see the few options for the bike? I saw the companies SV - Vortex or Yoshumura so ill check these 3.

2, Is a Adjustable link the same thing as a Rear Set? Cost Difference? I gotta check on these because I would like a little bit more of an aggressive look to the bike which is what i think this would do :) thanks guys
 
#8 ·
Rear ride height has to do with the height of the actual bike. This can be changed with a longer/adjustable ride height shock or suspension linkage.

Rear sets are the foot controls. This would adjust the ergonomics of the bike and where your feet rest with relation to he rest of you body. A more aggressive rear set would position your feet higher and farther back. Woodcraft and Vortex make complete rear sets and Yoshimira makes brackets to relocate your stock rear sets.
 
#9 ·
That is exactly what I'm talking about thanks. Too bad this company in in UK and I'm In The states.

Raising or lowering the rear ride height will change the geometry of the bike which will change how the bike steers. A lot of this comes down to preference. One downside of raising the rear by 1" would be that it would Change how the bike sits on the kick stand so you might have to be more careful when parking the bike.
 
#17 ·
You wont have a huge change to handling at all if you were to somehow raise the front with the rear. It'll keep the rake and trail the same. It'll increase your wheelbase by a tiny bit as well.

Exactly. I would love to just fabricate a set of rear links that would raise the rear of the bike the same as the front of the bike if I set the fork level with the tops of the forks even with the top of the tree (about 1/2"). What my accountant mind cannot figure out is exactly how much that is taking into account the fulcrum effect of increasing the rear link mounting point length. Any input from the engineering types here would be greatly appreciated!
 
#12 ·
I tried to talk SSR into making adjustable rear links to RAISE the bike.. Maybe if we get some intrest put together we can get him to to it..

I thought it would be nice to have the lowest settings be stock, then lift in 1/2" increments up to 2".. They would be identical to his lowering links he has but reversed to lift instead..

What do you guys think?
 
#15 ·
Does anyone have a before and after pic of a bike (before installation and after the ride height install?) I would love to see this.

Sorry about my previous post when I said Rear-Set - Thanks for clearing that up because i still didn't know about the rear-set the only question i have about the rear-set is..... is it necassary when you raise the bike up 1inch?

2nd question.... I was reading some posts and i could be wrong but from what i understood when you raise your bike their are some clip ons that you also need to get???? Confused about this but then again idk.... thanks guys again but hopefully my noob questions help some other people to :)
 
#16 ·
I don't think anyone has any before and after pics because raising links aren't really out there yet.

If you raise the rear you do not have to do anything with the clipons. If you start changing the front ride height you may need to get different clipons since to raise/lower the front you have to move the fork tubes up or down in the triple tree clamp. Since the stock clipons sit on top of the fork tubes this does not allow very much if any adjustment.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Bad choice of wording on my part, the link you are talking about is the same one i'm talking about I just said "rod" in the place of link, because some are round shaped and adjustable and some are flat and have multiple holes. The basic principle applies, the longer you make the link, the lower the bike will set, the shorter you make the link, the higher the bike will sit.
I measure from the lowest point of the bike, which is the lower cowl or panel whatever you would call it.
The front is a different story, you actually put a spacer below the handlebars, i used a one inch spacer, there are different thicknesses. After you remove and place the spacers under your handlebars you must loosen the triple tree bolts to let the struts slid up against the under side of the bars to lower the front. Some folks loosen the trees and let the struts come up first and measure one inch, then place the spacers on and then the bars. I don't have a jack capable of holding the front up so I place the spacers on first, then loosened the tree bolts to let the stuts come up. I then removed the bars to ensure the struts did actually move up, I then replaced the bars.
Sorry if my explanations confuse....different style of thinking nowdays.
 

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